BBC: Sugar vs Fat (Documentary Review)

What happens when you take 2 identical brothers and place them on two distinct diets to lose weight. This is what Alexander and Chris Van Tulleken, both doctors of 11 years attempt to investigate through their very different dieting approaches. At 17.5 stone, both of participants hold precious reminiscences of their 9.5 former physiques.

Christ follows the convention method by reducing fat to making up less than 2% of his daily caloric intake, while Alexander abode by a low carbohydrate diet, eliminating grains, fruits, and vegetables for one month. Within days the two began to notice the flaws of eliminating entire food groups. Consuming foods depleted of carbohydrates left Alexander constipated, tired, and slow. However, he lost 9 pounds, which is 450% more weight lost than his brother who had lost 2 pounds. On a low fat diet, Christ always felt hungry, which left him snacking incessantly.

These shocking results demonstrate how detrimental sugar, and its polymer carbohydrates, can be to an individual's health. Not only does sugar cause tooth decay, but also insulin resistance, which can lead to Type 2 Diabetes. In fact, one can of soft drink per day can make a person 22% more susceptible to diabetes. Insulin lowers blood sugar and it is a growth hormone that causes the body to convert sugar to fat. So the more insulin the less likely the body is to burn off the calories from the carbohydrates and the more likely the body will "pack on the pounds". Another benefit of low-carb diet is that it initiates ketosis, a metabolic process that burns fat for energy and creates ketones as a byproduct.

Because Alexander's body was running on stored fat, he found that he performed poorly in trading competitions that resembled making stock market investments an agility and endurance tests because his body was unable to supply energy quick enough.

These two self-made guinea pigs also discovered through a combination of scientific imaging and trial and error that sugar itself is not addicting and neither is fact, however a combination of the 2 is as addictive as cocaine releasing dopamine upon consumption.

The experiment rescued fat from false accusations of causing obesity, sugar is clearly the greater culprit.